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“No problem. I get how hard it is to deal with friends and business.”
“Wasn’t that how you got started?” Melissa asked.
“Yes, Mal knew my parents. So when he mentioned needing a nanny...my mom said I would do it.”
“What? She didn’t even ask you?”
“Nope. She just decided I’d been figuring out my next move long enough and she pushed me back out into the world.”
“That’s funny. Were you mad?”
“At first, but it turned out to be the best thing for me. It gave me a chance to find a career I wouldn’t have ever thought to try. And now it’s a big business. I’d never admit it to her, but she’s always known best.”
“Moms are like that.”
“They are. I think I’ve signed everything. I have a meeting tomorrow with the city planners about the playground that Kingsley’s funding. I’m not sure if he will be back. If not, would you watch Conner while I go to the meeting? The housekeeper has a dentist appointment tomorrow.”
“No problem. In fact, I don’t have to be back to the office until two. Want me to meet him today?” Melissa asked.
“Yes, let’s go.”
Melissa put all the paperwork that Gabi had signed into her big leather backpack and they went down the hall to the sunny nursery where Conner was playing with his Duplo and Lego blocks. Mrs. Tillman was sitting on a chair in the sun reading on her Kindle.
“I guess my break is over,” she said with a wink.
“Mrs. Tillman, this is my assistant, Melissa.” The two women shook hands and chatted while Gabi went over to check on Conner.
“What are you building?”
“A space station,” he said. “Want to help?”
“Sure. I brought Melissa in to meet you. She’s going to watch you tomorrow while I’m at a meeting,” Gabi said.
Conner looked up at Melissa, who’d finished talking to Mrs. Tillman and had joined them. She squatted down next to Conner.
“Hey, kiddo.”
“Hello.”
“Can I help with the space station? I went to space camp when I was a teenager. So I know a few things that they don’t show everyone.”
“Cool. Like what?”
Melissa showed him how to build an observation platform and Gabi stood up to straighten the room, surprised when she noticed that Kingsley stood in the doorway. He was back early.
“Daddy!” Conner yelled and jumped up to run over to his father.
Kingsley picked Conner up and hugged him tightly, kissing the top of his head.
“How have you been?”
“Great. I’m building a space station.”
“I see that,” Kingsley said.
“Will you be okay with Conner while Gabi and I speak in the other room?” Kingsley asked Melissa.
Gabi realized as he turned back to her and gestured for her to precede him out of the room that Kingsley was pissed. She could see it in his eyes. She wasn’t sure what had happened.
She led the way down the hall to his home office and stepped inside. The shutters hadn’t been opened and the room was dark and cold as she walked into it.
She didn’t want to be alone with him now that she realized he hadn’t been honest with her. She wished she could say that his lying to her would be enough to make her not want to kiss him and run her hands all over him, but that wasn’t the case. He looked tired. As though his trip hadn’t been a good one. She wanted to ignore what she’d seen, what she’d found out with a little internet digging and just open her arms to him.
Offer him comfort and whatever else he wanted.
Damn.
She was weak where he was concerned. She always had been and that was her problem. No matter how many times she thought she’d moved on, as soon as they were in the same room she was ready to believe whatever he said.
But she needed answers. And she wasn’t going to be pacified by any half-truths. After first thinking he’d been on a date with the woman he’d been photographed with on the society blog, she’d remembered something. The woman looked familiar. So Gabi had done more research. She’d uncovered some things on the internet that led her to believe that Kingsley and Hunter might be back in California for, well, revenge.
And she had admitted to herself she simply didn’t know him well enough to rule that out as a possibility. But she knew that if she’d been wronged the way they had...well, she would be tempted to find out who had set her up and then get back at the person, too.
